June 8, 2011

Good Morning,

"Do matter and antimatter obey the same laws of physics?" This is the fundamental question is at the base of the advancements of Swiss scientists working to create and observe anti-matter. Read up on this spectacular story in the second article.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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Geothermal energy system would use CO2

MINNEAPOLIS - U.S. researchers say a new method to tap heat below Earth's surface for energy could produce renewable energy while reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Researchers at the University of Minnesota Department of Earth Sciences developed the technique, dubbed a CO2-plume geothermal system, or CPG. Current methods for generating electricity using Earth's inner heat involve extracting hot water from rock formations several hundred feet below the surface at the few natural hot spots around the world, and then using the hot water to drive power-producing turbines, a UM release reported Monday. In contrast, the CPG system uses high-pressure CO2 instead of water as the underground heat-carrying fluid. CPG provides a number of advantages over conventional geothermal systems, UM graduate student Jimmy Randolph said.CO2 travels more easily than water through porous rock, so it can extract heat more readily and be used in regions where conventional geothermal electricity production is not feasible from a technical or economic standpoint. CPG also offers the benefit of preventing CO2 from reaching the atmosphere by sequestering it deep underground, where it cannot contribute to climate change, the researchers said."Part of the beauty of this is that it combines a lot of ideas but the ideas are essentially technically proven, so we don't need a lot of new technology developed," Randolph said.


Antimatter created, held for record time

GENVA, Switzerland - Researchers in Switzerland say they've created a few dozen atoms of anti-hydrogen, the antimatter twin of hydrogen atoms, and held them for 15-plus minutes. Scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, say that's long enough for physicists to start thinking about performing some serious scientific experiments with them, ArtsTechnica reported Monday. Matter and antimatter, identical except for the opposite lectrical charges they carry, destroy each other when they meet. Physicists say theories posit they should have been produced in equal amounts at the moment of the Big Bang, yet the universe seems to have favored matter over its mirror twin, the BBC reported. Antimatter particles are routinely created in labs such as CERN, but it has been extremely difficulty to retain the material as it will instantly annihilate on contact with conventional containers made of normal matter. The CERN collaboration developed a frigid, evacuated, "magnetic bottle" that allows its scientists to enclose anti-hydrogen particles and draw out the time before they are destroyed. Initially this was a mere 2-10ths of a second but the team says it as increased this period more than 5,000-fold. The team says it plans to use microwaves to probe the anti-hydrogen atoms' internal structure, and to see how these particles behave in the gravitational fields that exist in our "normal universe." "The question is very simple: Do matter and antimatter obey the same laws of physics? That's a very simple question, but a very profound one," Jeffrey Hangst, who works on the team at the CERN particle physics laboratory in Switzerland, told BBC News.


Sun unleashes flare, storm and particles

GREENBELT, Md. - The United States' space agency says it
observed the sun unleashing a solar flare, a small radiation storm and a spectacular coronal mass ejection Tuesday. The large cloud of particles mushroomed up and fell back down, covering almost half the solar surface, a NASA release said. NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory observed the flare's peak at 1:41 a.m. EDT, recording a large burst of gas, unusual in that many areas in the eruption seemed to contain cool material -- cool for the sun, that is, as less than 80,000 degrees Kelvin. The coronal mass ejection sent bright plasma and high-energy particles roaring away from the sun at more than 800 miles per second. Although not aimed directly at the Earth, the ejection should deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field during the late hours of Wednesday or Thursday, NASA said, and may provide sky watchers with observable auroras.


Software brings genomes to the desktop

NEW YORK - U.S. scientists say they've developed a desktop genome analyzer that allows biologists to analyze and process their massive amounts of data rapidly and easily. Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York say the free open-source software, called GenPlay, can offer biologists a user-friendly, multipurpose tool to help visualize, analyze and transform raw data into biologically relevant findings, a release from the college said Tuesday. Currently, genomic data is analyzed mainly by information specialists rather than by the biologists who designed the experiments because the experiments produce so much raw data. "The first human genome was sequenced 10 years ago by an international consortium at a cost of $7 billion," GenPlay co-developer Eric Bouhassira, professor of medicine and cell biology, said. "But today, a complete genome can be sequenced for less than $10,000 and the cost is predicted to drop to less than $1,000 in a few years. "The dramatic dip in cost has led to the creation of an avalanche of new data that biologists are having trouble analyzing," he said. "GenPlay is intended to make it easier for biologists to make sense of their data." GenPlay "emphasizes letting biologists take control of their own data by providing continuous visual feedback together with extremely rapid browsing at every decision point during an analysis," Bouhassira said.

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